NBC Broke Even On Olympics, Exec Says

NBC Sports Group president Mark Lazarus said today at the Bloomberg Sports Business Summit that strong performances at the London Olympics by U.S. teams and athletes led to strong ratings, which boosted the bottom line. NBC had projected a $200M loss, but NBCUniversal boss Steve Burke said last month it might have a shot at breaking even. Advertising sales topped $1B, up 50% from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and 219.4M American viewers tuned in, making the London Games the most-watched TV event ever here. NBCUniversal lost $200 million covering the 2008 Vancouver Winter Olympics and since then its new parent company Comcast has ponied up $4.38B for rights to the 2014 and 2016 Games with the expectations it can figure out how to turn a profit.